For the treatment of kidney disfunction, it is common practice to use a dialysis system to remove impurities from the patient's blood that would otherwise be removed by a healthy pair of kidneys. The dialysis systems commonly take the form of a process having the steps of drawing a washing fluid such as water through an inlet to the system, heating the washing fluid to suitable temperatures for effective dialysis and filtration such as reverse osmosis, passing the washing fluid through a filter to remove impurities therefrom and, finally, passing the washing fluid through the dialysis system for use in the kidney machines wherein contaminants from the patient's blood are deposited in the washing fluid which is disposed of by way of a fluid outlet. While the process of dialysis may be effectively achieved through this system, a large quantity of heat energy is required to heat the inlet washing fluid to suitable temperatures for effective filtration and dialysis.
Other systems additionally utilize a heat exchanger and recycle stream to preheat the inlet washing fluid to suitable temperatures for optimal filtration. In effect, the heated contaminated washing fluid, after exiting from the dialysis step of the process, is passed through a heat exchanger adjacent to a washing fluid inlet; thereby utilizing the heat energy from the contaminated washing fluid to preheat the inlet washing fluid toward the critical operating temperature necessary for effective filtration. While some energy conservation is achieved by using a heat exchanger, a large quantity of energy may still be lost throughout the system and the heating step of the dialysis system is still burdened to warm the inlet fluid to a suitable temperature for optimal filtration.